Anne Moffat

Anne Moffat or Anne Picking (born 30 March 1958) is a Scottish politician and current member of Parliament. Moffat, a Labour Party member for East Lothian, was first elected in 2001 general election with 47.61 percent of the vote.

Early life

Born in Dunfermline in 1958, Anne Moffat is of the well-known Moffat family of East Lothian and Fife, but was known by her married name of Picking. She contested the 2005 election under her married name, despite having been divorced for two years, so as not to confuse the voters. Following the election she returned to her maiden name. [1]. She attended Woodmill High School in Dunfermline before embarking on a career in nursing.

She joined the Fife Health Board in 1975 as a nursing assistant, becoming a pupil nurse in 1977, before becoming a State Enrolled Nurse in 1978 working at the Lynebank Hospital in Dunfermline. In 1978 she left Fife and joined the Northern Ireland Eastern Health Service in 1980, leaving in 1983 as a staff nurse. She moved to England in 1983 and joined the East Kent Community Health Care Trust as a staff nurse. She became a councillor in 1994 on the Ashford Borough Council where she served until 2000. She has been a member of the National Executive Committee since 1990.

Parliamentary career

In House of Commons she has served on a number of select committees including the Modernisation and Accommodation and Works Committee from 2001-5. She was a member of the European Scrutiny Committee for a year from 2004 and since 2005 she has been a member of the Trade and Industry Select Committee. Moffat is also a member of UNISON and the Trades Union Congress's General Purposes Committee.

In November 2008, Moffat was one of 18 MPs who signed a Commons motion backing a Team GB football team at the 2012 Olympics, saying football "should not be any different from other competing sports and our young talent should be allowed to show their skills on the world stage". The football governing bodies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all opposed to a Great Britain team, fearing it would stop them competing as individual nations in future tournaments.

She is noted for rarely voting against her party line.

Travel expenses

In 2003/04 Moffat billed the taxpayer £39,744 for travel expenses - the highest of any Member of Parliament. Such a huge total resulted in questions being raised about the nature of such claims, and as a result Michael Collie fought to have the details of the claims published under the Freedom of Information Act. In September 2006 it was ruled that the expenses should be made public, but Parliament continued to refuse to disclose the information for a total of two years, going as far as the High Court to prevent its disclosure. It was not until November 2007 that Moffat's expenses were finally made public.

Moffat claimed £9,792 in rail fares, with the average claim for a London to Glasgow/Edinburgh journey being £277. More significantly she had submitted claims for £1,817 in rail fares for 42 trips between Heathrow and Central London - an average of £43. Such a figure is of note as the journey is a mere 15 miles and the highest priced ticket actually costs £18. Additionally she claimed £15,712 from the taxpayer for air travel between London and Scotland, plus £12,289 in mileage (a total of 24,129 miles).^[1] In total for the period 2002-2005 Moffat's travel expenses amounted to £95,539.^[2]

Collie in particular highlighted Moffat's travel between London and Heathrow suggesting Moffat had "serious questions to answer", stating that he'd "be amazed if the local party will not now deselect Ms Moffat." As a result of the reaction to her travel expenses, she cut her claims by 70% in 2006-07, claiming £12,331.^[2]

That has not, however, stopped her claiming expenses under different heads. In 2007/2008 she had the joint highest expenses claims for Additional Costs Allowances including claims for £400 per month for food even when Parliament is not sitting.

Hitler comparison of First Minister

On 23 May 2007, she compared the newly elected Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond to Adolf Hitler, saying "proportional representation gave Germany Adolf Hitler and in Scotland to a lesser degree we've had the member for Banff and Buchan" during a debate in the House of Commons on the recent Scottish Elections.^[3] Angus Robertson criticised Moffat's conduct, saying "It was ignorant, it was ill-judged, it was plain wrong, and it was very dangerous."^[3] Moffat, however, believed that she had nothing to apologise for, explaining that "What I was referring to was the voting system, the proportional representation and electoral voting system, not about individuals. I was just giving examples."^[3]

Constituency party no confidence vote

Moffat narrowly avoided deselection as the Labour candidate for East Lothian with many local officials refusing to support her. In all, four of the six local branches did not support her reselection, with three of those voting to open a selection process.^[4]

In November 2008 the East Lothian constituency party passed a vote of no confidence in Moffat, as a result of this the national Labour Party suspended the constituency party. Critics claim dissatisfaction over a parliamentary standards inquiry into Moffat's travel expenses which exonerated her.^[4]

Attack

On Friday 23 May 2008, Moffat was attacked and robbed near her home by a gang of youths. She was knocked unconscious and had her watch and jewellery stolen.^[5][6]

Brain Haemorrhage

on Sunday, May 24 2009, the BBC reported Moffat was recovering in hospital from what was described as a 'small brain haemorrhage'^[7].

Personal life

She is divorced with one son.

References

External links

• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Anne Picking MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Anne Picking MP
• BBC Politics